Obama launching four-week campaign blitz for Harris

Barack Obama will spend the final four weeks before Election Day stumping for Kamala Harris and other Democrats in a bid to protect his legacy from Republican Donald Trump.

The former president plans to begin his election blitz with an event for the Democratic presidential nominee in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, a Harris campaign official said, and continue campaigning across battleground states as voters prepare to submit mail-in ballots and early voting begins.

Harris and Obama first met two decades ago when he was campaigning for the US Senate in Illinois. She was an early supporter of his campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination and canvassed for him before the Iowa caucus.

“Our job is to convince people that democracy can actually deliver,” Obama said at the Democratic National Convention in August. “And we can’t just point to what we’ve already accomplished. We can’t just rely on the ideas of the past. We need to chart a new way forward to meet the challenges of today. And Kamala understands this.”

Obama is kicking off this fall’s campaigning slightly earlier than he did four years ago, when his first in-person event for his former vice president, Joe Biden, was held on Oct. 21.

Much of the former president’s support for Harris thus far has been financial. He headlined a fundraiser in Los Angeles last month that took in $4 million for her campaign. In all, his efforts have generated $76 million for the Democratic ticket this election season. He’s also raised money for other Democratic groups.

In addition, Obama will appear in ads and robocalls for down-ballot races, and sign additional fundraising materials, in the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election, his office said.